Support Jim Harlan in the LA 01

Jim Harlan is a self-financed Democrat running for US Congress against Steve "the Sleaze" Scalise in the LA 1st district, encompassing parts of Uptown, Lakeview, and Jefferson Parish. Here's an ad he's produced (h/t: Daily Kingfish)




Steve the Sleaze (aka 'the mistake by the lake') should also answer for his political dependency on anti-hurricane protection forces like Edward Diefenthal and Boysie Bollinger. If you look up either of those two New Orleans haters on the interwebs, you'll see they represent some of the Sleaze's biggest contributors, his base. You'll also notice that even though the Sleaze campaigned on the promise that coastal restoration and levee protection would be his top two priorities once in office, when a Congressional delegation was actually in New Orleans to specifically examine these issues, the Congressman felt it was more appropriate to be in Alaska of all places, fluffing big oil's drilling agenda in the Arctic wildlife reserve. (PGR caught this when it happened over a month ago)

In the middle of hurricane season, the Sleaze passed on an opportunity to advance a bipartisan coalition to federally fund levees and wetlands for Louisiana and instead stumped for the profits of big oil. What's even more inexplicable is that he was pushing for drilling expansion IN ALASKA instead of off the Louisiana coast. How is that representing your district, Steve?

What is wrong with this guy?

Sarah Palin & Glen Beck Hate Polar Bears

I'm sorry that this is a ten minute video. Governor Palin shows up at around the 4 minute mark but you might want to watch Glenn's monologue, for which Mrs. Palin expresses her appreciation.




And here she is defending herself for getting her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper.




Village alcoholism, sure. But is she ready to lead?


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Below is a more substantive report on the abuse of power investigation and here is a the backup article.



Those are fairly serious allegations and quite a two-step out of the gate for Governor Palin. It would be one thing if the investigation had been unable to find anything but this story just broke last month. It's brand spanking new and will remain in the news as more information comes forward. McCain's demonstrating some fine judgment with this pick. Another panicked response out of the McCain camp.

Whether he's talking up war with Russia or Iran or picking our possible next vice president, John McCain just can't seem to take a deep breath and evaluate things clearly. There is no steady hand at his campaign and a rapidly diminishing judgement within the candidate himself.

Did they even vet Sarah Palin? Did they run any polls on her?

Do they really think that a first term governor from a state of 700,000 people in the Arctic that was previously the Mayor of a town of 8,00o has comprehensive knowledge of the complicated foreign policy matters of the day? Do they think she could possibly understand the national economy?

Do they really think Americans are going to be confident enough to count on her as insurance for McCain's age?

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Bad judgment update:

From CNN

John McCain first met Sarah Palin only six months ago and had just one conversation with the Alaska governor before offering her the vice presidential slot on the Republican ticket, the Arizona senator's campaign said Friday.

Really? You just picked someone to be your replacement, a potential commander-in-chief during a crisis, based off of one conversation?

A Senate Toss Up?

Political pundits and prognosticators have again and again cited the Louisiana Senate race between Democrat Mary Landrieu and Republican State Treasurer John N. Kennedy as the GOP's only realistic chance of knock out a Democratic incumbent in their quest to prevent a filibuster-proof majority. Yet, by and large, there has not been extensive media coverage of the Louisiana race comparable to other swing Senate races around the country. The reasons for that may seem obvious at first-glance.

The Alaska race features the progressive former mayor of Anchorage, Mark Begich against the longest serving Republican Senator, Ted Stevens, who may be as likely to face jail time as he is to see another six years in office. The Colorado contest between progressive Rep. Mark Udall and Abramoff-connected, oil-pocketed Bob Schaffer has largely been a laugh-fest for those of us on the left. The insurgent campaign of Rick Noriega in Texas against arch-conservative John Cornyn and the seemingly unlikely viability of Ronnie Musgrove against Republican Senator Roger Wicker in Mississippi have captured a good deal of attention because of their symbolic implications.

Further, Louisiana political campaigns traditionally receive relatively little national attention because pundits admittedly don't understand the state's electoral structures, to say nothing of the colorful personalities that routinely defy the nation's sense of rational thought.

Nonetheless, considering the importance of this Senate race, I do feel as though coverage of this race has been seriously lacking.

And the specific reason for that may become glaringly apparent by the end of this quick primer.


Incumbent Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu has established herself as a big swing vote, consistently rated as amongst her chamber's most moderate members. While progressives often decry her caves on FISA, the Iraq War, oil, etc., it is clear that she has aptly positioned herself to bring bacon home for her state. Whatever your feelings are on earmarks or pork-barrel legislation, it is difficult to argue that Louisiana doesn't need or deserve as much federal help as it can get.

Then there's John Neely Kennedy, the State Treasurer.

In 2004, when Democrats were working to save the open seat vacated by longtime Senator John Breaux, John Neely Kennedy was a Democratic candidate. He couched himself as the most progressive option in the primary, running to the left of eventual nominee Chris John. He even gave an enthusiastic speech introducing John Kerry, whom he endorsed, at a campaign event in New Orleans.

Still a Democrat and still the state treasurer well into 2007, the Louisiana GOP seemed to be struggling to find a candidate to run against the effective Landrieu. Top Bush advisor and possible convict Karl Rove made a special trip to meet with potential challengers. At the time, Stuart Rothenberg (see link), noted that Rove's eroding stature may have rendered him an ineffective recruiter, especially for a Democrat.

Yet John N. Kennedy was somehow convinced and a few short months later, switched his affiliation, ignoring not only all of the foibles of the GOP during the Bush administration, but also constantly updated national poll data reflecting overwhelming public dissatisfaction. In November of 2007, just five weeks after being reelected State Treasurer, he announced his intention to run against Landrieu.

Since then, he has run an inarticulate and unenthusiastic campaign. His inability to raise money in reputably ruby red Lousiana forced him to call in George W. Bush to Katrina territory for a fundraiser in late March.

The Daily Kingfish crunched the numbers when the 2nd quarter fundraising totals were released. The Bush fundraiser alone accounted for over one third of Kennedy's meager haul. Without Bush's help, Kennedy would have raised less money in the 2nd quarter than he did in the first.

Meanwhile, Kennedy has awkwardly masked his party-hopping and flip-flopping by just gobbling up GOP talking points with little regard for fact. Last month, he took one of the more insulting routes possible, repeating the GOP-derived myth that "not one drop of oil" spilled during Hurricane Katrina ignoring that the talking point is patently false. While that may put you in the good graces of John McCain's campaign, it is awfully insulting to the people in your own state that survived the storm and are still learning the extent to which our eroded environment contributed to the strength of the storm and the extent to which the storm has eroded the environment.

Then, after slamming Mary Landrieu for an appearance with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg because of Mr. Bloomberg's progressive stance on social issues. That is ironic for a couple of reasons. First, as Oyster from Your Right Hand Thief points out, Kennedy has had trouble deciding how much he'd like to associate with sex-scandal marred Republican Senator David Vitter. After taking campaign money from Senator Vitter, he refused to answer whether or not he would be accepting Vitter's appearance on the campaign trail. Then he decided to indeed schedule a joint appearance at the end of August. The second interesting point to note about that is that Senator Vitter was once regional campaign chair for former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who is a well-known liberal on the same social issues for which Kennedy panned Bloomberg.

Just last week, the Daily Kingfish made another interesting observation about a Kennedy radio appearance - he was reading his policy on oil shale nearly verbatim from a wikipedia entry.

So with a filibuster-proof Senate majority on the line, the GOP has pinned its only hope of defeating an incumbent on a guy that isn't even properly prepared for softball radio interviews.

One would think that national GOP operatives would be really promoting this race in the media or working the right-wing fundamentalist roots for donations or activist assistance. But they're not. Not at all.

Maybe it's because not even the local GOP seems interested in this race.


This is John N. Kennedy kicking off his campaign bus tour to his most loyal supporters:



Here is one of his events in Alexandria, another critical population center:



Here is John Kennedy speaking to a quorum of supporters at another appearance in Houma:



So it's no wonder the national press doesn't have much to say about the supposedly-critical Senate race in Louisiana, neither does the local GOP. They're not exactly lining up to greet the man. Additionally, since John Kennedy has proven not to have much to say for himself, it looks like Mary Landrieu might not have much of a race on her hands after all.

I Inflated my tires

I like it.

Links

Two Links.

When this tragedy is manipulated in a lie, when the story of Katrina is selectively rewritten, New Orleanians must reassert the truth.

Always and forever.

There Will Be Blood

If I set the over/under on number of full-fledged gas riots by November at 1 and showed you this link, what would you bet?

I might still take the under but I had to think way too long about it.